Topic: OS problem

[Serenity]

Hi Guys, Can you help with a problem a friend of mine has with her PC.

She is running XP and until yesterday prior to downloading some XP updates  was running absolutely fine. Today however an error alert has appeared on boot up saying:

"Error loading operating system, searching for boot record from floppy"

What should she do to rectify this problem?  

p.s. she has tried booting up several times to no avail

[DJ]

Never had this problem with XP, but did have it with ME and sadly it resulted in a clean install of the OS.

Not sure if you could put the XP disc in and try to boot from this or try safe mode and do a "restore point" once in XP.

Let us know how you get on.

Not much help sorry  

DJ1UK

[Camstop]

Well i've also done the xp updates....And no probs here....

Yeah and i know you guys don't belive in doing the upgrades as soon as they come out...


Serenity....I'm sure Sandra will be along shortly to erm...

Sort you out!!    

[lobo]

Hi Serenity
This is a classic sign of a boot sector virus, You need to run a anti-virus scan on the computer, if you have access to Norton Anti-Virus CD you can create a set of floppy disks to boot your PC with and check for viral infection,

You should not use any floppy disks that have been used on this PC on any other computer until they have been checked


If there is no virus found boot from the XP CD and follow the instruction to repair a present XP installation, if that fails consider formating the drive and a new installation

Brian
 

[Serenity]

Thanks for the advice guys, Lobo I will try to rectify the fault for her on Sunday and let you know how I get on   thanks again

[TR]

Serenity.. I take it that you do have the original XP disk or did they just give her a recovery disk.


Look at this following link for help, its called how to run a repair instal.


help files


Hookstar  

[lobo]

@Hookstar
 
Nice link m8 nice link :rock:

Brian

[TR]

How Do I Do a "Repair Installation"?

Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.

Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

(You can also boot with a Windows 98

* Hookstar Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER:

    To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.




Lobo.. the link is one of many that I have posted in another thread..useful sites and other places the above text came from here>>


>>doug knox<<





Hookstar

[lobo]

@Hookstar
Nice site m8 very interesting content, I will look at it more at the weekend when I have a bit more time

Thanks

Brian

[Serenity]

I just wanted to check this fact out with you guys..... my friend does'nt have an XP installation CD in her pack (the pc is just 7 months old) when she contacted PC World to enquire of its whereabouts she was told that Packard Bell do NOT provide an installation CD just a recovery floppy disk?? is this right? sounds to me as though they do this to ensure the owner has to return the pc to the shop each time there is a major OR minor fault outside the warrenty period just to make MORE money... >

[Adept]

I just wanted to check this fact out with you guys..... my friend does'nt have an XP installation CD in her pack (the pc is just 7 months old) when she contacted PC World to enquire of its whereabouts she was told that Packard Bell do NOT provide an installation CD just a recovery floppy disk?? is this right?

Yes it's perfectly true Serenity The floppy simply restores an image that is stored in a separate partition on the hard drive. What this means is 3 things:-

1. Your nice shiny new 40GB (or whatever) drive doesn't have anywhere near that capacity because there is a hidden partition on the drive taking up a large chunk of it

2. You really need to backup the hidden partition to cd in case the hard drive fails or you'll be left with nothing. It also means that upgrading your hard drive will be difficult (as seen by arthurb this week)

3. This is why Packard Bell, Patriot and all the other cheap brands are so cheap - corners have been cut

It's not just Dixons Group which is doing this now. I think all the major box-shifters use a similar method  >

[Tony]

:good:


well said Sean,

I'm glad I have broken out of that loop, always being tied to restore or rescue disks only appertaing to that PC. Which then involes p*ssing about if you replace a faulty HDD with one not exactly the same size.

Home built is best.

 :tony: